Thread cutting mechanism for looms



NOV. 4 1941. TURNER 2,261,636

THREAD CUTTING MECHANISM FOR LOOMS Filed Sept. '7, 1940 as 64 4, O

Attorne nv entor Richard. G. Tur ner Patented Nov. 4, 1941 THREAD CUTTING MECHANISM FOR LOOMS Richard G. Turner, Worcester, Mass., assignor'to Crompton & Knowles Loom Works, Worcester, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Application September 7, 1940, Serial No. 355,857

12 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in mechanisms for cutting the thread of the outgoing bobbin on the transferring beat of a weft replenishing loom and it is the general object of the invention to provide means for leading the thread over the top of the shuttle and cutting it in that location. In my co-pending application Serial No. 190,637 I have shown mechanism which cuts the thread of the outgoing bobbin on the front wall of the shuttle together with pneumatic means for removing the cut thread from the lay. The shuttle illustrated in that application has the usual delivery eye in the front wall of the shuttle from which the weft extends back to the selvage and across a cutter plate on the shuttle front wall near the eye. The thread is likely to sag under gravity to a position too low for cutting and also extend across the slot in the front wall of the shuttle through which the weft detector extends, resulting in occasional breakage of the thread by the detector. When the front delivery eye is employed it is necessary to cut away a considerable part of the front wall of the shuttle, thereby weakening the latter and also forming surfaces which do not cooperate to best advantage with the shuttle check.

' It is an important object of my present invention to effectdelivery of the weft from the top of the shuttle, and cut the thread on an upwardly facing surface against which the thread is held by gravity. Under these conditions the thread does not extend across the detector slot and the front delivery eye is eliminated, thereby strengthening the shuttle.

It is desirable to cut the thread on replenishing beats only of the loom and it is accordingly a further object of my present invention to provide a cutter blade or the like cooperating with the shuttle carried plate and mounted on the transferrer arm to be moved downwardly by the latte when transfer is to be effected.

The usual shuttle for bobbin changing looms employs a pair of spring jaws held in place by a holder the upper part of which extends along the top of the shuttle and it is another object of my present invention to use the holder as the cutting plate or anvil. In this connection it is a further object of my present invention to provide a shuttle with means to position the thread so that the same will lie over the cutting plate.

My present invention relates more particularly to the cutting mechanism and 1 illustrate a form of shuttle eye which will effect top delivery of the thread. The shuttle eye itself is not claimed herein.

With these and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, my invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and set forth.

In the accompanying drawing, wherein a convenient embodiment of my invention is set forth,

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of certain parts of a weftreplenishing loom having my invention applied thereto, parts being'in section and the cutter being in its normal raised inoperative position,

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 but with the transferrer arm in low position and the weft cutter operating to cut the thread,

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the shuttle usedwith my invention,

, Fig. 4 is an end elevation taken in the direction of arrow 4, Fig. 2,

Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail vertical section on line 5-5 of Fig. 3, and

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic plan view showing the relation of my invention with respect to other parts of the loom.

Referring particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, I have shown a loom lay L having a shuttle race 10 and provided with a bobbin slot II. The lay moves back and forth in the loom in the usual manner and reaches a so-called front center position for each pick or beat of the loom. The loom is provided with a reserve bobbin magazine M of any approved form serving to hold a reserve bobbin B in transfer position directly over the shuttle S when the lay is on front center on weft replenishing beats of the loom. The bobbin has a head l2 with the usual rings l3 and has a tip 14 around which the weft W unwinds during weaving subsequent to transfer. As shown herein the magazine has inner and outer plates I5 and I6, respectively, which guide the heads and tips respectively of thereserve bobbins. Yielding supports H for the head and tip of the bobbin hold th latter in transfer position.

The shuttle has a pair of spring jaws ZO Which hold the rings of the bobbin and these jaws are held in place partly by a transverse screw 2| and partly by a sheet metal holder 22 having an inclined bobbin guiding surface 23 and an upper plate 24 extending along the shuttle to afford means for anchoring the holder to the shuttle by means of a screw 25.

The other, end of the shuttle is provided with an eye E having a vertical thread slot 30 across the upper part of which projects inner and outer hooks 3i and 32, respectively. The inner hook 3| projects forwardly while the outer hook 32 projects rearwardly under an overhanging guard 33. The eye includes a block of metal 34 held to the shuttle as at 35. Located in the inner part of the slot are yielding friction pads 36 between which the weft runs and by which it is tensioned.

As shown diagrammatically in Fig. 6 the lay has a box back 40 and reed 4| which define the so-called reed line along which the rear wall of the shuttle moves. In Fig. 6 the lay is shown on front center position so that the reed is against the fell F of the cloth C, and the thread T extending from the selvage 42 is-led diagonally forwardly and toward the adjacent end ofthe lay over the top of the shuttle to the shuttle eye. The pneumatic thread extractor 45 has a forwardly extending wing 46 lying over a mass of deformable material 4'! such as plush mounted on the lay. The thread T will be pushed down on the deformable material 4'! by the wing 46 when the extractor tube 45 descends to the position shown in Fig. 6 behind the thread T on replenishing beats of the loom.

The parts thus far described are of the usual construction except as indicated hereinafter. The pneumatic tube 45 is constructed and operated as described in the aforesaid application, and the shuttle eye is shown here for illustrative purposes only as of the usual type to be set forth hereinafter to effect top delivery of the weft threads.

In carrying my present invention into effect I provide the shuttle eye withapin 50 and form the hook 32 with a notch 5| as shown in Fig. 3'. Since the shuttle eye of the form shown would ordinarily effect delivery of the thread from the front of the shuttle, I use the pin 50 to prevent the thread from moving down as it ordinarily would. The pin effectively holds the weft in the upper part of the shuttle eye, and the notch 5| determines the position of the thread with respect to the front and back walls of the shuttle'when the latter is on the magazine side of the loom and the thread is extending from the notch 51 to the left as viewed in Fig. 6 to, the adjacent selvage. During flight of the shuttle to thev right the thread passes through the pads '36, under hooks 3| and 32 and up through notch 51 to lead to the left.

As previously stated the shuttle eye shown herein is for illustrative purposes only, and a shuttle equipped with an eye designed for cooperation with my thread cutter forms the subject matter of a separate application. It is, thought sufiicient for present purposes to state that the weft will be led from the top of the shuttle eye during weaving and have its position laterally of the shuttle determined by the notch 51 when the shuttle is, in the box.

As shown more particularly in Fig. 3 the top plate 24 is provided with a widened area set into the top of the shuttle sothat the top surface 6| thereoflies below the top surface 62 of the shuttle. Those portions of the shuttle which project above the surface 6! and lie to the left of the widened area .60 are undercut as at 63, see

Fig. 5, to define angular notches at each side. of the pl at e'24 for catching the thread and requiring it to extend across the wide area 6 0.

The cutter blade which cooperates with the widened area St is mounted'on the transferrer arm 65 which may havethe usual bobbin 'head engaging heel 66 and ayarn-eng'aging spoon 61 which extend over the bobbin B in the magazine. This transferrer arm has a forwardly extending part 68 pivoted as at B9 in the usual manner, see Fig. 6.

A bracket 10 is held to the transferrer arm by bolts II which extend through vertical slots 12 in the bracket to afford vertical adjustment of the bracket with respect to the transferrer arm. The bracket is provided with bearings 15 which support a pivot pin 16 extending through the hub T1 of a lever 18. The lower part of the lever has removably secured thereto as by a bolt a cutter plate 8| the lower edge of which is adapted for thread cutting. The upper arm 82 of lever i8 has passing freely therethrough an adjustable stop screw 83 threaded into an arm 84 projecting upwardly from the bracket 10. The bolt 83 has a head 85 to the left of arm 82, see Fig. 1, to limit angular motion of the lever 18 in a counter-clockwise direction under the infiuence of a compression spring 86 located between the arms 82 and 84 and surrounding the bolt 83. By changing the longitudina position of the bolt 83 with respect to arm 84 the head or stop 85 can be moved to determine the angular position of'the lever 18 and also the amount of offset measured in the direction of the length of the lay between the pivot pin '16 and the cutter 84. Under normal conditions the parts are as shown in Fig. 1 with the spring 86 holding the arm 82 against the head 85.

Normally the transferrer arm is raised with the parts in the position shown in Fig. 1. When a weft replenishing operation is called for by exhaustion of weft in the active shuttle the transferrer arm will be moved downwardly by wellknown mechanism not shown herein to move the bobbin B from the magazine into the shuttle, thereby expelling the depleted bobbin D. At this time the thread of the depleted bobbin will be extending from the right part of the shuttle over it and to the left toward the adjacent selvage. The thread will therefore extend across the broadened area 60 and be held in this position by one or another of the notches 53 as already described. As the transfer-rer arm descends it carries bracket 10 and parts mounted thereon downwardly until the blade 81 engages the plate 24 preferably along the widened area 60. The cutter is sufiiciently wide to strike the thread whether the latter be held in the rear notch 6.3 as indicated at 90 or in the front. notch .as indicated at 9|, in Fig. 3.

There are two reasons for mounting the lever 18 so that it can move angularly withrespect to the 'transferrer' arm, the first being to enable the cutter blade -8l to strike the plate '24 before the transferrer arm reaches .its lowest position, thereby insuring contact between the blade 8| and the arm 24. The other reason is to provide. a sliding motion .of the blade Bl along the plate 24, thereby assisting the thread cutting operation in .a. manner similar to that, set forth in prior 1 patent to PayneNo. 1,881,920. The angular motion of lever 18 is caused, by the fact that the blade 8!, strikes. the plate 24 at a point offset longitudinally with respect. to the lay inwardly from the/pivot of; thelever. When the transferrer arm starts up after completion ofthe bobbin inserting strokflthe spring 86 restores the lever '18 to thepos ition shown inFig. 1.

The pneumatic thread extractor 4.5 will act subsequently to cutting to draw that part of the thread-extendingifrom the cutter to the tube 45 away from the lay as described in my aforesaid Certain well-known features of weft replenishing looms having been'omitted from the drawings for the sake of appearance, but for a further understanding of mechanisms entering into the operation previously described reference may be had to the aforesaid application for the pneumatic removal of the thread, to the Payne patent for the advantages of sliding the cutter along the cutting plate or anvil, and to Ryon Patent No. 1,030,748 for the transferrer arm and its operating mechanism.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have provided a simple means for severing the thread of the depleted bobbin at the time of transfer by leading the thread over the top of the shuttle 5 and cutting it on an upwardly facing surface on the shuttle by a cutter blade carried by the transferrer arm. It will also be seen that the shuttleis so formed as to hold the thread across the widened part 60 of the holder 22 to insure proper cutting. It will further be seen that the lever 18 is mounted for movement relatively to the transferrer arm by forces brought into play at the end of a transferring stroke of the transferrer arm, thereby permitting engagement of the blade 8! with the cutting plate slightly before completion of the transfer stroke to insure thread cutting.

Instead of the shuttle eye set forth herein I may employ the form of eye shown in my copending application Serial No. 344,308, which delivers the weft at the top of the shuttle.

Having thus described my invention it will be seen that changes and modifications may be made therein by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and I do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, but What I claim is:

1. In a weft replenishing loom'having a lay and a shuttle thereon to have a reserve bobbin placed therein by a transferrer arm which descends on weft replenishing operations of the loom, that improvement comprising means on the shuttle presenting an upwardly facing surface over which the weft extends, a thread cutter movable downwardly on the said surface to cut the thread, and means carried in part by the cutter and in part by the transferrer arm to move the cutter downwardly on said surface by a force derived from the transferrer arm and transmitted through said means on a weft replenishing operation of the loom to cut the thread.

2. In a weft replenishing loom having a lay and a shuttle thereon to have a reserve bobbin placed therein by a transferrer arm which descends on weft replenishing operations of the loom, that improvement comprising a metallic plate on the upper part of the shuttle having an upwardly facing surface over which the weft thread extends, a thread cutter movable downwardly, and means carried partly by the cutter and partly by the transferrer arm to transmit a downward force derived from the transferrer arm to the cutter on a weft replenishing operation of the loom to cause the cutter to engage the metallic plate and part the thread.

3. In a weft replenishing loom having a lay and a shuttle thereon to have a reserve bobbin placed therein by a transferrer arm which descends on weft replenishing operations of the loom, that improvement comprising a metallic plate mounted on the top of the shuttle and having an upwardly facing surface over which the weft thread extends, and a thread cutter mounted on the transferrer arm to be moved downwardly by the latter on a weft replenishing operation of the loom to engage the plate and sever the thread. w

4. In a weft replenishing loom having a lay and a shuttle thereon to have a reserve bobbin placed therein by a transferrer arm which descends on .weft replenishing operations of the loom, that improvement comprising a metallic plate mounted on the top of the shuttle and having an upwardly extending surface over which the weft thread extends, a lever pivotally mounted on the transferrer arm, and a cutter element mounted on the lever, the lever and cutter element being'moved downwardly by the transferrer arm during a weft replenishing operation of the loom to cause engagement between the cutting element and the metallic plate to sever the thread.

5. In a weft replenishing loom having a lay and a shuttle thereon to have a reserve bobbin placed therein by a transferrer arm which descends on weft replenishing operations of the loom, that improvement comprising a metallic plate on the upper part of the shuttle having an upwardly facing surface over which the weft thread extends, a lever mounted on the transferrer arm, means constituting a pivotal connection between the lever and the transferrer arm, a cutter elementhaving a cutting edge nearer the center of the loom than said pivotal connection, and means including a yielding member to determine the position of the lever with respect to the transferrer arm, the lever and cutting element being moved down by the transferrer arm on a Weft replenishing operation of the loom to cause engagement between the cutting edge and the plate before the transferrer arm reaches the end of its transferring motion, the yielding member yielding during the last part of the downward motion of the transferrer arm and the cutter element moving along the plate in the direction of the length of the lay to sever the thread.

6. In a weft replenishing loom having a lay and a shuttle thereon provided with bobbin holding jaws and a holder therefor including a plate extending along the top of the shuttle, the shuttle having a bob-bin held by the jaws from which a thread extends through the shuttle eye and then over the top of the shuttle and across said plate, the loom having also a transferrer arm which descends during a weft replenishing operation of the loom to insert a reserve bobbin into the shuttle, that improvement comprising a cutter element, and means to mount the cutter element on the transferrer arm to cause the cutter element to move downwardly to engage said plate to cut the thread when the transferrer arm moves down on a weft replenishing operation of the loom.

7. In a weft replenishing loom having a lay and a shuttle thereon provided with bobbin holding jaws and a holder for said jaws including a plate extending along the top of the shuttle, the shuttle having a bobbin held by the jaws from which a thread extends to the adjacent selvage, the loom having also a transferrer arm which descends during a weft replenishing operation of the loom to insert a reserve bobbin into the shuttle, that improvement comprising means to locate the weft over said plate, and a cutter element supported by the transferrer arm to be moved downwardly by the latter on a weft replenishing operation of the loom into engage ment with the thread and said plate to cut the thread. a

8. In a weft replenishing loom having a lay and a shuttle thereon-provided with bobbin holding jaws and a hold-er therefor including a .plate extending along the top of the shuttle, the shuttle having a bobbin held by the jaws from which a thread extends through the shuttle eye and then over the top of the shuttle and across said plate, the loom having also .a transferrer arm which descends during weft replenishing operations of the loom to insert a reserve bobbin into the shuttle, that improvement comprising a thread cutter mechanism mounted on the trans ferrer arm and movable, downwardly into engagement with the plate to cut the thread when the transferrer arm moves downwardly on a weft replenishing operation of the loom.

9. In a weft replenishing loom having a lay and a shuttle thereon provided with bobbin holding jaws and a holder therefor including a plate extending along the top of the shuttle, the shuttle having a bobbin held by the jaws from which a thread extends through the shuttle eye and then over the top of the shuttle and across said plate, the loom having also a transferrer arm which descends during weft replenishing operations of the loom to insert a reserve bobbin into the shuttle, that improvement comprising a lever resiliently mounted on the transferrer arm for pivotal movement relatively thereto, and means carried by the lever presenting a cutting edge,

said lever and means movable downwardly by the transferrer arm on a Weft replenishing operation of the loom to cause engagement between the plate and said means to sever the thread.

10. In a weft replenishing loom having a lay and a shuttle thereon to receive a reserve bobbin due to downward motion of a transferrer arm during a weft replenishing operation of the loom, that improvement comprising an eye carried by the shuttle to effect delivery of the weft thread at the top of the shuttle so that said thread extends along the upper surface of the shuttle, a

cutter plate carried by the upper part of the .shuttle over which the weft thread extends, cutter mechanism located normally above said cutter plateandthread, and means carried in part by the transferrer arm to cause the cutter mechanism to be moved downwardly by a force derived from the transferrer arm during a weft replenishing operation of the loom to cause engagement between said cutting mechanism and the plate to sever the thread.

11.'I;n a weft replenishing loom having a lay and a shuttle thereon to receive a reserve bobbin due to downward motion of the transferrer arm on a weft replenishing operation of the loom, that improvement comprising an eye at one end of the shuttle to effect delivery of the weft at the top of the shuttle so that said weft extends over the'top of the shuttle toward the other end of the latter, a cutter plate carried by the shuttle adjacent said other end thereof and under the weft, a cutter element normally above the said plate and thread, and connecting means carried in part by the transferrer arm between the cutter element and transferrer arm movable downwardly by a force derived from the transferrer arm on .a weft replenishing operation of the loom to move. the cutter element into engagement with the plate to sever the thread.

12. In a weft replenishing loom having a lay and a shuttle thereon to have a reserve bobbin placed therein by a transferrer arm which descends on weft replenishing operations of the loom, that improvement comprising a metallic plate mounted on the top of the shuttle and across which the weft of the shuttle extends, means on the shuttle to limit transverse motion of the thread over the plate and restrict said thread to a given zone, cutter mechanism normally above said plate and thread, and connecting means carried in part by the transferrer arm between the cutter mechanism and said transferrer arm and actuated by a force derived from the transferrer arm on a replenishing operation of the loom to .move'said cutter mechanism into engagement withsaid plate across said zone to cut the thread.

r .i RICHARD G. TURNER. 

